MIAMI, Okla. -- Air Force Tech. Sgt. Jason Norton, a Miami airman who served in Iraq, came to the aid of his country.

But he also was quick to comfort a friend, no matter how distant the trip.

Norton was 4,000 miles away, stationed at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska, when longtime buddy Scott Miller of Miami, Okla., lost his wife to cancer in March, Miller said.

"He made it a point to come down from Alaska and be with me and my family," he said. "He's a very outstanding guy in my book."

Norton, 31, was killed Sunday with another airman, Staff Sgt. Brian McElroy, 28, of San Antonio, when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb during convoy escort duties near Taji, Iraq. Taji is about 12 miles north of Baghdad.

Both airmen were assigned to the 3rd Security Forces Squadron, Elmendorf Air Force Base, north of Anchorage.

"He goes off and gets his orders to go off to Iraq," Miller said. "Nobody wanted it to happen. But he said he had a job to do.

"We're going to go up there and be with his wife like he was with us. We'll all be one big family up there for a while and try to get through this."

Norton, Miller and Kevin Browning grew up together in Miami. They all wrestled and played football in school and stayed close after their 1991 graduation. Each man stood up at the others' weddings, Miller said.

"We had a group of us that we